


wings of self-actualization

by AtLoLevad



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Deckerstar, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29700654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtLoLevad/pseuds/AtLoLevad
Summary: Chloe and Trixie wake up with wings. The whole thing may be Lucifer's fault.
Relationships: Amenadiel & Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Trixie Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 14
Kudos: 125
Collections: LUCIFER_FICS_





	wings of self-actualization

"MOM!"

Chloe shoots out of bed at the sound of Trixie's panicked shout. She nearly smacks Lucifer in the face with her hand when she scrambles to untangle her legs from the sheets.

"I'm coming! Trix!" she shouts back, fear working its way up her throat.

She runs down the hallway, skidding to a stop when she sees Trixie standing in the middle of the hallway, a horrified look on her face and a pair of angel wings protruding from her back.

"Oh my god," Chloe gasps, her hand covering her mouth. She stumbles back a step, crashing into Lucifer's chest.

There's no quippy rejoinder from her partner about his Father and that's when she knows she's not hallucinating.

Her daughter has wings.

"Trix, honey, just...just stay calm," Chloe immediately snaps into her cop voice, holding out a hand as if she's trying to tame a wild horse.

Trixie's eyes are wide and she shakes her head. "Mom! There are wings! Attached to me!" Chloe can't tell if her tone is terrified or excited.

"Lucifer!" she hisses. "What is going on?"

"I...Detective, this may surprise you, but I'm at a loss," he admits, squinting curiously at Trixie's wings. He takes a step forward, hand outstretched as if to touch the feathers, when his shoulder accidentally bumps into Chloe's.

It all happens so fast.

A pair of wings unfurl from Chloe's back, the force strong enough to send Lucifer flying backwards down the hall. He collides with the wall, crumpling to the ground, before getting up and using one hand planted on the ground to keep himself steady.

"Oh my god!" Chloe shrieks, eyes wide and hands covering her mouth. Behind her, Trixie's expression is the same - dark eyes wide as they flick between the wings attached to Chloe and Lucifer, crouched on the floor.

Shaking off the shock, Lucifer mutters, "Yes, I'm beginning to think dear old Dad has something to do with this."

"Lucifer!" Chloe yelps, feathers ruffling and brushing up against her face. "What? How? I have wings!" the last word comes out as sort of a disbelieving moan and she covers her face with her hands, shoulders slumping forward and wings coming along. "How do I make them go back in?" she asks, words muffled by her hands.

Trixie nods, "Yeah, these are going to make fitting in the car on the way to school really hard."

"Oh," Chloe lifts her head, "you have to go to school." She gasps, "I have to go to work! Lucifer!"

"I'm thinking!" he shoots back, standing up now. He frowns. "Well, until we figure out the why, let's see if you can contract them. It's a bit like an umbrella, just imagine you're folding them in."

Trixie squeezes her eyes shut and slowly, the wings retract. Her eyes shoot open and she grins, "that was easy! Thanks, Lucifer." She leaps forward, dodging Chloe and her spread wings to hug the Devil around his midsection.

"My pleasure, urchin," Lucifer pats her on the head, leaning away from the hug only a little bit. "Off you go, get dressed."

She breaks off the hug and grabs Chloe's hand on her way back to her room. "It's really easy, mom!" the pre-teen grins. "Promise!"

Chloe squeezes her daughter's hand and replies, "Thanks, monkey," in what she hopes is a reassuring tone of voice. It seems to satisfy Trixie, who skips off back to her bedroom. Once Trixie is safely out of earshot, Chloe hisses, "Lucifer, what the fuck? Wings? What is your Dad playing at?"

"I wish I knew," Lucifer replies, stepping forward and wrapping his hands around Chloe's upper arms. "But we will figure this out. I just need you to calm down and pull your wings back in. Can you do that for me, love?"

Chloe's hands shake and it's obvious that she's incredibly overwhelmed. Lucifer slides his hands down her arms and squeezes her hands. "Chloe? Love, you can do this," his voice is soft and smooth and Chloe blinks.

"I...Lucifer, I have wings. Wings!" she all but shrieks the final word, a hysterical look in her eyes.

"Yes, I can see them," Lucifer replies, surprised to find himself the calm one in their relationship. "I know you can do this, imagine folding up an umbrella."

Chloe's eyes are wide and her wings tremble, likely because Chloe herself is trembling. "I...I can't. I can't do it," she whispers.

"Yes, you can," Lucifer replies firmly. "Look at me, right in the eyes. I've got you, Chloe."

Chloe's hands grip Lucifer's tightly, nails digging into his skin, and she maintains eye contact. Lucifer can see the fear and confusion in her blue eyes. His thumbs stroke the skin of her wrist, her pulse beating furiously. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the wings shake and retract, folding up neatly and disappearing. The only evidence of their presence is a handful of silvery white feathers littering the carpet around their feet.

"Ah, see!" Lucifer beams. "Knew you could do it!"

He ducks forward and presses a quick kiss to Chloe's lips. She's too stunned to move, until her knees give out a moment later and she collapses into Lucifer's arms. "I've got you," he murmurs, stroking her hair and holding her close. Chloe presses her face into his chest and Lucifer's stomach lurches, as it always does when his Detective is present.

"Does this..." Chloe whispers against the soft fabric of his undershirt, "does it mean, are we...dead?"

Lucifer's heart skips a beat.

"No," he says firmly, pulling Chloe back a bit so he can look her in the eye. "No, you and Trixie are not dead. That I am sure of."

Chloe nods, trusting him because Lucifer never lies.

"But the wings? Only angels have them," she murmurs, more to herself and Lucifer notices that the hysteria in her tone has subsided and she sounds more like she does at the beginning of a case, like she's trying to puzzle out the mystery in her head. Good, Lucifer can work with that. Mystery solving is their forte after all, like Bones and Booth.

"And if Trix and I have wings," Chloe starts, frowning to herself, "then logically, we're angels?" She looks up at Lucifer, "can your Dad do that?"

Lucifer's forehead scrunches in thought. "I don't see why not? He meddles in everything else, so why not add another layer to the madness by making perfectly alive humans into angels."

Running a hand through her hair, Chloe sighs. "I...yeah, this is a lot to process. Especially before coffee." The shock is finally wearing off and the sudden drop in adrenaline has her feeling exhausted all of a sudden. She frowns and squeezes his hands again. "Can we just..." Chloe trails off, unsure of what she actually needs right now.

"How about I make you an omelette and an espresso and then go chat with Amenadiel about our feathery problems?" Lucifer suggests easily, sliding into the role of caretaker smoothly.

"I...yes, okay, that sounds good," Chloe nods sharply, once, decisively. She leans up and kisses Lucifer softly. "Thank you," she whispers against his lips. She squeezes his bicep before heading back into their room to get dressed, praying all the while that the wings won't make another reappearance.

Lucifer, still out in the hallway, raises his eyes to the sky. "I thought we agreed Your meddling was over?" he mutters darkly. "To drag Chloe and Trixie into this? Too far."

* * *

"Brother!" Lucifer shouts, letting the front door bang shut behind him. "We seem to have a problem."

Amenadiel turns away from the stove and sighs, the long-suffering kind of sigh that developed after millennia of dealing with Lucifer. "What happened now?" he asks, handing a piece of toast to Charlie.

"Lu!" Charlie shouts, banging his fists on the table. The two-year-old beams at his Devilish uncle, showing off his teeth.

"Oh, hello, child," Lucifer greets the toddler with a pat on the head. To Amenadiel, Lucifer sneers, "Father, who else?"

"Oh dear," Amenadiel sets down the spatula he's holding and crosses his arms over his chest. "I thought after Michael, Father was going to be hands-off?"

"Are you surprised that He couldn't keep that promise?" Lucifer scowls. "And to bring Chloe and Trixie into His plots as well?"

Amenadiel's eyebrows raise in concern. "Chloe and Trixie? What happened? Are they okay?" he leans forward, hands out as if to comfort Lucifer.

The Devil waves away his brother's concern. "They're fine. Well, no. Not fine, but also not harmed?" he frowns, pausing. "They have wings," he blurts out.

"...Wings?" Amenadiel repeats, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Wings," Lucifer confirms with a sharp nod. "And who else but Father could be behind this? And for what nefarious purpose, I'm still unsure."

Amenadiel rubs at his forehead, frowning. "And they just woke up with the...the wings?" he asks, face scrunched up.

"Trixie did, but it took an accidental bump to Chloe's shoulder for hers to unfurl, as it were," Lucifer replies, reaching back to rub at the spot where his shoulder made contact with the wall.

"Did anything unusual happen last night?" Amenadiel asks, dropping into one of the kitchen chairs and absently handing Charlie another piece of toast. He looks at his son, and Lucifer wonders if he's jealous that Charlie's a mortal when it appeals that Chloe and Trixie, well, may not be any longer.

Lucifer, now pacing around Linda and Amenadiel's living room, thinks back to last night. He starts a monologue of their evening. "No, we picked up the urchin from Daniel's place. Ordered pizza and those dreadful little garlic knots the Detective likes, they're rocks, Brother, rocks with garlic smashed on top. Disgusting. We put on a movie - one of those animated ones that Trixie likes. Chloe said it was the perfect evening, when we went to bed later. That she wished it could be like that forever."

"And what did you say?" Amenadiel asks curiously, leaning forward and looking like he's already got a theory developing. Lucifer doesn't really love the look in his big brother's eyes, but he ploughs on.

"That it would be like this forever," Lucifer admits slowly. A knot of _something_ settles in his gut. He wrinkles his nose at the look on Amenadiel's face. "What? What are you thinking?"

Lucifer has a terrible feeling that he knows exactly what his brother is thinking.

Holding a hand out, palm up in a placating manner, Amenadiel speaks slowly and calmly, as if Lucifer is a spooked horse. "I think...that it's possible that Father has nothing to do with this," he says.

Anger flares hot in Lucifer's belly. "And I did?" he snaps, eyes flickering red.

"Not intentionally!" Amenadiel shoots back, standing up quickly and holding both hands out. "I wonder if an angel's self-actualization -"

"Extends beyond the angel himself," Lucifer finishes, a look of horror settling in his eyes. He pushes a shaky hand through his hair and resumes his pacing. "I've done this to them, whatever this is, whatever the repercussions, they're my fault. I've done this...this terrible thing."

"Luci!" Amenadiel shouts, breaking through Lucifer's self-flagellation. Lucifer pauses, but doesn't look any less horrified with himself. "We don't even know is this is permanent or if they're actually angels. We don't know anything."

"We know that I've done this," Lucifer says hoarsely. "I've brought this burden onto the Detective's shoulders and her child as well."

Charlie chooses this moment to break his silence, throwing his toast on the floor and demanding, "Lu! Pick up!"

Lucifer startles and looks at his nephew. "Pick up you or that half masticated piece of soggy bread? Because I'm afraid that I'm inclined to do neither." He wrinkles his nose and steps out of the reach of Charlie's sticky hands. "Ugh, these children and their perpetually grubby hands. Father only knows what's on them."

Amenadiel watches the interaction, watches Lucifer's shoulders relax even as his words indicate uncomfortableness. Charlie may be mortal, but he has a supernatural sense of when Lucifer needs to be distracted.

"Up!" he shouts, louder now, and Lucifer heaves a sigh before grasping the toddler under the arms and holding him out.

"Better, you mongrel?" Lucifer asks, briefly flashing his Devil face, much to Charlie's delight. Still holding Charlie by the armpits, the toddler's legs kicking happily in the air, Lucifer turns to his brother, "We need to figure this out. I wouldn't wish the burden of angelic being on my worst enemy, much less my greatest love."

"We will," Amenadiel says calmly, voice reassuring. "Now," he raises an eyebrow, "can you put Charlie down before you dislocate his shoulders?"

Lucifer rolls his eyes, but sets Charlie on the ground, the toddler taking off down the hall at top speed. "He's a speedy little bugger, isn't he?" Lucifer observes, head cocked curiously.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Amenadiel slumps tiredly. "Sometimes I'm glad he doesn't have wings because it makes it that much easier to catch him."

* * *

Somehow, Chloe manages to get through her day without a reappearance of the wings. She did leave work early and she's sure some of the officers think she's insane, based on the way she was creeping carefully around the precinct. But she's home now and she doesn't have to worry about an accidental reveal sending anyone to the psych ward.

"Trix? Lucifer?" she calls out, dropping her keys on the counter and kicking off her boots. "You guys home?"

Both Lucifer and Trixie appear from different corners of the house, Trixie looking excited and Lucifer looking like he's in pain. Chloe frowns at them.

"Okay, what's going on?" she asks tiredly. Her back hurts from keeping it stiff and straight all day in the hopes of keeping the wings undercover.

Trixie bounces on the balls of her feet. "I thought about it all day and I wanna keep the wings!" she practically shouts with excitement. "They're cool! And I could probably fly with them, right Lucifer?" She turns to the man and he looks like someone stabbed him with a hot poker.

"Probably," he admits grudgingly.

"See?" Trixie yelps. "That would be the coolest! I could fly to Disneyland super quick and we'd avoid all the traffic!"

"Trix, monkey," Chloe holds up her hand in a stop motion, "if you kept the wings, you wouldn't be able to fly around in the daylight. Remember that no one else knows about the celestials?"

"Oh, yeah," Trixie visibly deflates, pouting at the floor. She sighs. "I guess we don't need to keep them then," she says sadly, trudging off to her room.

Chloe watches her go, hating to see her daughter so sad. She looks over at Lucifer, about to say something, and then notices the pain in his dark eyes. "Okay," she reaches for his hand and grasps it, tugging him closer, "what's up with you? Did Amenadiel say anything?"

"He has a theory," Lucifer says quietly. His free hand lifts as if to rest on Chloe's hip and then pauses mid-air, his fingers flexing.

She prods him gently, "and what's the theory?"

"I'm so sorry, Chloe," Lucifer's eyes go soft, his tone repentant. "This is all my doing."

Chloe shakes her head, confused. "The wings? What do you mean?"

"Angelic self-actualization," Lucifer spits. "The working theory is that it extends to those around the angel, as well as the angel himself."

"Oh," Chloe blinks. She frowns, tilts her head. "So, you think that - what?"

"Well, I obviously projected my fears of losing you and the urchin into providing you with a pair of wings and presumably some kind of immortality," Lucifer sighs, clearly disgusted with himself.

"Um, okay," Chloe smiles a little, teasing him gently, "you've really gotten your money's worth out of your sessions with Linda."

Lucifer squints at her. "This is not a laughing matter, Detective! I've burdened you with the thing that I hate the most!"

Chloe opens her mouth to speak, but Lucifer continues over her.

"I've damned you and Trixie with an existence of heartache and loss! All because I'm so weak that I can't live without you. I'm no better than my Father, ruining lives and meddling with humans on a whim," his face darkens and the air around him thickens with tension and grief.

"Hey, hey, no!" Chloe yelps, cupping Lucifer's face in her hands and forcing him to make eye contact with her. "No. Listen to me, Lucifer. This is not your fault." He opens his mouth to object, but Chloe repeats herself firmly. "It's not. I promise you that I do not blame you for this. If the wings really are a result of your self-actualization and your fears, then we'll work on it. Together."

Her thumbs caress his cheekbones and Lucifer leans into her touch.

"Remember, we're incredible, you and I," she says fiercely. "There is nothing we can't handle together. Yes, I was thrown for a loop this morning, but I'm coping. However this shakes out, we will be okay. Understand me?"

Lucifer nods, eyes suspiciously wet, and Chloe hooks her arms around his neck, pulling him close in a tight hug. She kisses the side of his neck, breathing in his unique scent - expensive cologne, whiskey, and cigarette smoke. Lucifer's arms wrap around her back and keep her locked against his chest. His face buried in her hair and Chloe can feel him trembling.

"I love you, Lucifer," she murmurs against his skin. "No matter what, okay?"

"Okay," his voice is soft, so soft that she can barely make it out. He doesn't say the words back, but she knows he feels them. He feels so deeply, so fully, it breaks Chloe's heart a little bit.

Her back feels itchy, tight in a way that she knows has nothing to do with her stiff posture all day and everything to do with the wings underneath her skin, waiting to be released.

It terrifies her, frankly. The idea of immortality, of forever actually meaning forever. But then again, the idea of leaving Lucifer behind one day, decades into the future if all goes well, also terrifies her.

Lucifer's hand grips her shirt, fingers twisting in the fabric, and Chloe knows, she just knows that even if it ends in heartbreak, loving the Devil is worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> hello all! i had a ton of fun writing this one - it's based on a prompt i saw on luciferprompts on tumblr. let me know what you think :)


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